Jeremiah Duggan, who was found dead on a motorway near Wiesbaden, Germany, in 2003.
Photograph: PA

A woman whose son was thought to have killed himself in Germany has told an inquest he was “destroyed” by a cult-like far-right group.

Erica Duggan said she last heard from her son, Jeremiah, on 27 March 2003 when he telephoned her at about 4.30am. She said he was frightened and in “deep, deep trouble”.

A few hours later, he was found dead on a motorway near Wiesbaden. German police initially said his death was “a suicide by means of a traffic accident”. However, the student’s family, from north London, have never accepted that, and on Wednesday his mother said she was sure Duggan would be alive if he had not attended a conference organised by the rightwing group LaRouche.

“The one thing I am absolutely sure of is that he was trying to stay alive … if he had not left Paris and not been with those people he would be alive today,” she told the inquest.

She added: “I think he was destroyed by the LaRouche organisation because my son was a very outspoken, independent, intelligent, strong character … I can only say for sure they destroyed him, that I’m sure of.”

Student's suicide on German autobahn a 'set-up', UK inquest hears

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Duggan, who was Jewish, had been studying English literature at the Sorbonne in Paris and had travelled to Wiesbaden for what he thought was an anti-war conference after becoming concerned about the escalating conflict in Iraq.

The 22-year-old had gone with a group of young men selling the newspaper Nouvelle Solidarité, a French version of a newspaper published by Lyndon LaRouche, an American rightwing extremist condemned by leading Jewish organisations as an antisemite. The Schiller Institute in Wiesbaden, where the conference was held from 21 to 23 March, was run by LaRouche’s German wife, Helga.

The court heard there was a gruelling schedule at the conference, with students attending several hours of meetings, lectures, one-on-one sessions, chanting and seminars.

Alexis Weisberger, who was at the event carrying out “sociological research” into the group, said Duggan had many questions about LaRouche’s ideology and beliefs to begin with, but this changed as the conference went on.

“He was critical in the beginning, but at the end of five days all that was lost – eating, sleeping and singing together you end up being exhausted with no power to think for yourself,” Weisberger said.

At about 4.25am on the morning of his death, Erica Duggan said her son called her at home in the UK and said he was in trouble. “I could not sleep and I picked it up straight away as if I had been waiting to hear from him,” she said.

Visibly upset, she said Duggan sounded very frightened and had said he wanted to get away “to escape from them”. “I had no doubt he wanted me to rescue him.”

During the conversation, she said someone tried to stop him speaking. The phone went dead and he called back. “I felt his life was at stake and I said ‘I love you’ ... and he was cut off again,” she said.

Later that day, two police officers went to her house and said her son had died and was thought to have killed himself. “I just screamed and said the one thing know is that it was not suicide,” she said.

The court heard a written statement from Ursula Caberta, a German cult expert. She said the mother of another LaRouche member had been told by her son that Duggan was a spy and a traitor and had been “hunted down”.

In a subsequent conversation the court heard the woman attempted to play down the claims, saying “she did want to say anything more about the matter”.

Germany 'suicide' student may have been chased and beaten, inquest told

The drivers of the two cars German investigators said were involved in the death explained that Duggan had been at the side of the road before he threw himself in front of one of the vehicles and was then run over by the second. The drivers said they believed the student had tried to kill himself.

There were no traces of blood, glass or skin on the two cars that were supposed to have hit Duggan, Bayle said, adding: “It did not take me very long to see this was a crime scene and not a traffic accident.”

Bayle, who based his inquiries on photographs of the incident, said there was sand on both cars and the student’s shoes to suggest Duggan had been at a nearby quarry or building site at the same time as the cars. He said Duggan might have been chased and then beaten to death at the quarry before his body was moved to the motorway.

“In my opinion, Mr Duggan has either gone through a quarry or building site. They are actually racing these cars around trying to follow him – the cars go over posts and bumps – that is where they get the damage.”

The north London coroner Andrew Walker asked whether it was plausible that the scene had been faked on a busy motorway at 6am without any witnesses. Bayle said it would have required a widespread conspiracy involving a large number of people.